Epidemiology and Phenomenology of Compulsive Use of Technology: The Technological Saturation of South African Youth

Modern technological advancements are increasingly reconstituting virtually every facet of social interaction. While technology plays a significant role in many people’s lives, it appears to pose interminable drawbacks, especially among the youth. This article seeks to go beyond emphasising the utopia wrought by these disruptive innovations, by looking at how technologically saturated South Africa’s youth are. This study took a qualitative approach. Focus group interviews encapsulated the viewpoints of the target population selected from four multipurpose community centres in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. Grohol’s model of pathological internet use was found relevant to determine the compulsive use of technology by the youth in South Africa. Data analysis was done using thematic categorisation. The findings show that the youth have adopted a variety of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for different purposes. Findings also reveal that technology advancements not only offer an easier and quicker way to share information, but also contribute to sociability by providing a way to communicate with distant friends and family. Notwithstanding the negative side of technology, ICTs have positive impacts on today’s youth, namely bringing people together as well as enhancing their social and educational abilities. However, if used without discretion, technology can create a less interactive generation. The youth seem to be so fixated on technology that it affects their social life. It can be concluded that South Africa’s youth are saturated by technology. However, this saturation comes with both negative and positive consequences; some have become technologically savvy while others seem to be negatively affected.

Problematic Pornography Use

The idea that pornography can be addictive or that people may compulsively use pornography was not a focal point of the so-called sex wars of the 1970s and 1980s. Now the contention that there is an epidemic of problematic pornography use is a pillar of the argument that pornography is a public health crisis. Scholars disagree about whether problematic use is an addiction or is better characterized as a compulsive use disorder. This chapter describes the research evidence about the prevalence, correlates, and consequences of problematic pornography use, discusses treatment options, and encourages collaboration with the networks of people who describe themselves as porn addicted or in recovery from porn addiction.

Does the Dark Side of Personality Traits Explain Compulsive Smartphone Use of Higher Education Students? The Interaction Effect of Dark Side of Personality with Desirability and Feasibility of Smartphone Use

Research on compulsive use of smartphones amongst students largely remains unexplored. The study seeks to investigate the feasibility and desirability motives—instant gratification, mood regulations, convenience, flow and personality—to understand the compulsive use of smartphones. The results of the useful data of 200 respondents following purposive sampling design, provided evidence of instant gratification, mood regulation and convenience motives, which significantly explain flow and compulsive smartphone use. Personality of users also appeared as a significant moderator between flow and compulsive smartphone use. The findings of the study reveal that the personality of smartphone users enhances the propensity to build compulsive smartphone use. Additionally, the findings reveal the double-edged sword impact of flow in forming compulsive smartphone use and allowing smartphone brands to design phones that help phone users to develop self-control over their behaviours related to using smartphones.

Swiping for trouble: Problematic dating application use among psychosocially distraught individuals and the paths to negative outcomes

More and more individuals hunt for information on and reach out to potential romantic partners through mobile dating applications available on their smartphones. Although these emerging technologies offer social benefits, certain individuals become overly dependent on such applications and suffer from negative outcomes. Relatively little research in online dating to date has investigated what predicts problematic use of such social technologies. Building upon the cognitive-behavioral model of problematic Internet use and the social skill model, we examined the relationship between social anxiety, the problematic use of dating applications, and the possible moderating role of loneliness with an online survey ( N = 269) conducted with a college student sample. The data did not provide support for serial mediation predicted by the social skills model (social anxiety influencing negative outcomes serially through preference for online social interaction (POSI) and compulsive use) but provided support for moderated serial mediation. Specifically, the serial mediation predicted by the social skills model was significant only among those high in loneliness, with the positive association between POSI and compulsive use being significant among those high in loneliness. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.